If the population of Quebec seems more than ready to do its part in the fight against climate change, there is still work to be done, especially on how we communicate on the matter.
This is one of the many conclusions drawn by the Baromètre de l’action climatique, conducted by the Climate Action laboratory. The lab is part of a collaboration between the Un point cinq media outlet and a research team from Laval University.
The goal of this collaboration is to understand the population’s vision of climate change. What actions do the inhabitants of Quebec implement, how do they feel about environmental issues… and most recently, do they actually understand what climate change is.
If Quebecers seem ready to do their part – 78% of the respondents say they are willing to do more to fight climate change – there is still work to be done, according to Valériane Champagne St-Arnaud, marketing Professor at Laval University.
« The good news is that Quebecers are preoccupied by climate emergency. It’s actually a growing concern, but their behaviors don’t really follow their beliefs. While they do act, the most significant actions in addressing climate change are still falling short, like curbing single use and composting, for instance. »
Lack of motivation? Laziness? None of those, according to the lab, but a lack of education.
« The lack of knowledge is an important issue that we first took note of last year and that is still present in 2020. We notice that Quebecers will often confuse the climatic impact of an action with its environnemental one. There still is a lot of confusion that can lead to some kind of illusion, a negative impact even. It can give the impression that we’re doing a lot because we try not to waste drinkable water, when it’s in fact not the case. People will justify doing other actions because they feel as though they have already done their part, » Valérie Champagne St-Arnaud explains.
Better communication about climate matters
To eradicate this lack of education, we need to better communicate about these questions. This is where the Climate Action Laboratory comes into play.
The work of the teams, apart from the annual barometer, is to try out different communication techniques on focus groups, and to evaluate how efficient they are.
In other terms, the laboratory gathers different population segments and presents them different types of content mentioning climate change. « We work on the content but also on the message itself », the experts add.
« A single message can’t work for everybody. We need to segment our communications for them to be effective. Some will react more to comics, other to video, and some other to written content. A part of the population will need trustworthy spokes-people, like scientists, whereas other will prefer local entrepreneurs or tv-reality stars. The idea is to identify the different formats, spokes-people and communication lines that work best for each portion of the population », Clémence Lalloz, co-founder and CEO Of Un point cinq, adds.
Tools for communication professionals and the media
The laboratory’s mission is also to equip professionals and the media to help them better communicate these challenges.
According to the laboratory’s teams, most people will be receiving their information and education about these issues via these outlets.
More over, a report presenting all of the teams’ conclusions will be published next spring.
Until then, they already offer some tips and ideas on how to cover climate change in a more efficient way :
« Climate change is omnipresent, it is in all aspects of our daily life, not just the environment. It can also impact our economy, social justice, health… we can choose one of these particular angles to portray the issue. We also tend to fixate on the negative impacts of climate change, on what our governments do or don’t do, but it also takes positive examples. We need to show inspiring actions, at all levels. We should demonstrate companies, cities, communities but also individuals. It’s important to present what people actually do around us. We see it in the barometer : people know there is a consensus on this question, but don’t see the change happening around them. It certainly doesn’t help getting started. » – Clémence Lalloz
Another suggestion is to choose from daily topics, and bring the environment or the climate question into it.
